The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Bizzy Day

...Woke up and blogged, drove to work 'cos it was supposed to be stormy (yeah, well, it was, but not when I was commuting), called home and reminded my roomie of the new market opening up not outrageously far away when I saw a news item of ribs being grilled for shoppers (all et up when she got there, drat), got outta work on time for once, went to the new Super-Duper Market myself (it really was wonderful but jam-dammit packed with people who were, mostly, socializing), came back home, set up dinner (Purina Girl Chow: a nice mixed salad!), stuffed it in the fridge, went and rode two miles on my bicycle, popped the Magic Garage Door Opener as I came up the alley, made a graceful, sweeping curve and realized halfway through it that I was going too fast. Bumped the brakes, locked up both wheels, felt the back skid out from under me and lowsided at less than 5 mph.

Did a nice gentle fall since most of my forward momentum was gone by the time I was moving faceplantwards, caught myself on my hands and the balls of my feet and would have been standing again about as soon as takes to bounce back up were it not for the need to lift up the bike. Still, it's a maneuver that has nothing to recommend it and it was not at all improved by the small boy peering over a fence across the alley.

And dinner was decent, too. Had some wasabi* whatever mix on the side for crunch. Delightful! Now, if there were only gracefulness pills I could take...._____________________* "Wasabi," a word not, ferthluvva, in Blogger's dictonary! Hello? Hellooo? Do they keep you poor sods trapped under a rock, doin' The Innarwebz on a Curta Calculator via landline telegraphy and drinking dandelion-root tea?

Yeah, it was cold water in the face -- I'd been in that state of mind where the bicycle was like floating, effortless, and then...! My first reaction was, "Uh-oh," followed by rueful amusment when I realized I was headed for the gravel but not fast or hard enough to make for much damage, followed by relief after I'd touched down and found my hands and knees undamaged.

All's wedll that ends well, though I am about due to get the bike's brakes and wheels looked at.

I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt. I need gracefulness pills too. Mmmm, wasabi -- one more thing we all have in common. I'm going to try growing wasabi next year probably. I already have a big patch of horseradish going.

Pass the gracefulness pills. One of the reasons I don't own a bicycle as an adult is the fact that my knees are still badly scarred up from my days riding one as a kid, including one nice patch of gravel that never did get worked all the way out. I think my most spectacular crash was the one that sent me in a literal high flip over the fence I'd just smacked into; thankfully, no injuries more severe that time than an awkward sprain and the usual road rash.

Somehow, I don't think I'd be ANY better without the low center of gravity and in a neighborhood with a lot more hills.

"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."